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Friday, April 22, 2011

Sumarterta - Icelandic Summer Skyr Tart

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Its name lured me as surely as the siren's song lured mariners of myth to death on rocky shoals. How can you resist something called a Summer Skyr Tart? I had visions of blond nymphs dancing in the pale glow of midnight sun, sipping champagne as they nibbled on elegant and Lucullean tarts. The romance of it all caused me to commit to its creation before I did my research and learned that skyr does not reference the midnight sun. It's a popular dairy product that is similar to strained yogurt, or soft cheese, and it's used extensively in Icelandic cooking. So much for romance. I also learned that skyr is thicker than yogurt and a bit sweeter. The product is not available here, so I decided to go with a Greek yogurt cheese that I've used for other purposes. As I browsed through the recipe it became clear that this dessert was not going to fall into the "sweet thing" category. It consists of cookie base that is covered with a barely sweet mixture of egg whites, cream cheese and yogurt. It is finished with a sprinkling of toasted almonds and strawberries. The recipe was developed by Beatrice Ojakangas, but I found it on a great blog called The Bohemian Kitchen. This is a large, thin tart. It will not set if you use a smaller pan and go for height rather than diameter. I used a 12-inch spring form pan to make my tart. I also made some adjustments to the recipe which I've highlighted in red. I added a small amount of almond extract and a pinch of salt to the cookie base. I also covered it with a 1/2 cup of warm strawberry jam before adding the yogurt layer. Please note that the recipe uses raw egg whites. Some of you might be more comfortable using pasteurized eggs or powdered egg whites. I like to use reconstituted egg whites because it alleviates the problem of having to store unused yolks. The tart will not set in the hour suggested in the recipe, so plan on at least 6 to 8 hours chill before serving. Now comes the hard part. I won't be making this again. It is a nice dessert, but it is very understated and almost boring. I suspect the results might be different if the tart were made with skyr, but until I can find a source for it, I'll stick with strawberry short cake. I hope some of you will try the Sumarterta and let me know what you think. Here's the recipe.

Directions1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 11 or 12-inch spring form pan and dust it with flour.2) Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter. Mix with finger tips until coarse crumbs form. Add almond extract to egg and stir into crumb mixture, mixing well. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden. Set aside to cool. When cool brush surface with strawberry jam.3) With a mixer, combine yogurt cheese or skyr with cream cheese and beat until combined and smooth.4) In a clean bowl, whip egg whites with a small dash of salt until frothy. Add sugar and continue beating until the whites become stiff.5) Fold cheese mixture into egg whites. Spread over cooled crust.6) Sprinkle with toasted almonds and decorate with strawberry halves.7) Chill tart for at least 6 hours. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Mary, I liked your pie, if there is hard for you to find certain ingredients in Portugal I think even more would have to make alterations, is not living in Portugal is that they live in a very small village where some products do not arrive and sometimes not even know that there ... only when I go to the city closest to refuel myself is that everything that does not exist in order to experience things.

Mary,First I want to thank you for visiting my blog and for the sweet comment. I enjoyed looking around yours and definitely reading today's post. Your tart looks fabulous even though Skyr doesn't reference the midnight sun! :) Have a blessed Easter!

How interesting! Uzbekistan where I have just been, has something called skymilk which must be the same as your skyr! It was very nice - actually one of the nicer culinary offerings that I tasted there to be honest! I am so off heavy and oily foods as a result ...Lovely to have you visit my blog, BTW! Thank you!Claudia

It's very pretty Mary! Don't you hate when things don't live up to expectations though. I still figure you've got to go along way to beat a good Strawberry Shortcake, especially with Oregon strawberries! Hope you have a wonderful Easter.

Well it looks beautiful :) Sounds great I may just have to give it a try with some twists as I always do. I too would add the almond axtract. I love a challenge and love that you are honest about the outcome.

You keep raising the bar and I keep lowering the scale because your blog and my sloth are conspiring to end my sugar addiction. I see this stuff and I see what I have close at hand, then I think,"Forget it."

It looks beautiful with the red strawberries! Even if you won't be making it again I do love looking at it :) I have never heard of Skyr before. Now I am curious. I always learn new things on your site. Love that! Have a beautiful weekend!

You are getting more and more adventuresome!! This reminds me of all the trillions of kinds of cream they sell in England, but not here!!! Oh well, I guess our arteries are all clogged enough as it is. Still, I would like to try some of the clotted stuff. Oops, there's that clot word again!

ahhh indeed the name "Skyr" is misleading! While the picture is fetching and your description interesting it looks like a daunting task better left to actual chefish types...I'll stick to the longhouse foods:-)Have a great weekend!Shawna

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